Mother's Day Notes

I was blessed today to spend a lovely day with family.

But as I was watching the wee nieces scamper about, I could not help but think of the very many mothers who no longer have their children.

How do those mothers cope on this celebration of motherly love?

How does the woman who has lost all her children feel today?

Or the mom who's child is away at war? Or locked away? Or given away? Or taken away?

And so as I count my own blessings on this day, I take a moment to pray for mothers who grieve.

Happy Easter!

Today is not a day for blogging, but rather for rejoicing - celebrating the miracle of the Resurrection with our loved ones. God bless!

Good Friday

Today is the most solemn and serious day in the Catholic Liturgical calendar: Good Friday.

A day for prayer and fasting and meditation.

A day for reflection. 

As a child, I found Good Friday hard to comprehend. As an adult, I am certain of one thing: that my understanding is not as perfect as I may think, "for now we see through a glass, darkly".

But that in itself is comforting to me. I don't have to fully understand God's plan. I don't have to understand how He "perfects" our tragedies and our mistakes and our sinful actions to His will.

I can simply accept it. 

This Easter, dear friends are grieving: it is their first Easter after the loss of their children.  

All of their children. 

And I know they are not alone, for friends in Haiti have told me of similar stories: men and women bent in grief over the loss of beloved children. I know it is a bitter story repeated across our broken world.

Please pray with me that in their grief the Promise of the Resurrection will bring them a measure of peace and comfort.

Maundy Thursday

Holy (or Maundy) Thursday is the solemn observation of the Last Supper, of the heartbreaking betrayal of Judas, of the torment in the Garden of Gethsemane.

It is a time of prayer and meditation, and we personally will observe a simplified Seder this evening in remembrance. This year, the selected Gospel is Luke, and we will also be re-reading and meditating/praying the Passion this evening.

This evening's observances are the beginning of the Easter Triduum, consisting of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil.

The Second Vatican Council, in restoring the Triduum to it's rightful place in the Liturgical Calendar urged us to remember: "Christ redeemed us all and gave perfect glory to God principally through his paschal mystery: dying he destroyed our death and rising he restored our life. Therefore the Easter Triduum of the passion and resurrection of Christ is the culmination of the entire liturgical year." (General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, # 18)
 
Here are a few links for those who may wish to read more:

http://www.catholic.org/clife/lent/thurs.php

http://www.catholic.org/clife/lent/story.php?id=36022

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1059

A different kind of anniversary

Today marks 32 years since our families little world changed. 32 years ago, in the wee hours of Easter morning, my dad had a horrendous auto accident. It took a team of rescue workers almost an hour to remove him from the twisted wreckage, and upon arriving at the hospital most of the attending doctors assumed he would be "a vegetable" at best, dead within hours at worst. It was the most difficult Easter of my life.

Now, all these years later, I look at my dad playing with his grandchildren and I thank a gracious God who knew better than those doctors! And I marvel at the courageous, sacrificing love of my mother, who refused to give up on dad, refused to write him off when he was comatose for months, instead talking to him every day as she exercise his limbs and invented ways to stimulate his brain and tried to bring him back to us, fighting doctors (but not nurses) to see dad get the best care that could be provided. And all the while, taking care of her children.

Our family motto quickly became "We Believe in Miracles", as we children saw a father who we grieved as dead to us slowly regain life - a pale reflection, in our young minds, of the original Easter miracle. And as time went on, new miracles were added as children were born and unsurmountable obstacles overcome. So now, as I prepare for Holy Week (and the biggest miracle of all!), I remember all the miracles in my life!

The Spring garden is started!

Over the weekend, in between helping a friend move and my mom to tidy her yard, I achieved more than I imagined possible in my own garden!

Pots all cleaned and refilled with fresh soil

Seeds planted: radishes, scallions, mint, cilantro, spinach, spring lettuce mix, elephant ear bulbs

Starts planted: pansies everywhere (because their sweet faces and bright color are irresistable!) and broccoli.

Decrepit wicker porch settee finally disposed, and a nice painted rocking chair installed in its place

Much general raking, sweeping, tidying

Planning where the backyard plot it to go this year (last year the squash did not do well, so the garden will move to a better spot)

All of this involved much running up and down three flights of stairs between the deck garden and the compost pile, which doesn't seem much at first, but really does start to catch up after the 10th trip or so! It also entailed observing the amusing antics of spring-crazed squirrels, local children, and migrating geese and ducks (flying in formations overhead).

I gave the local children a spare 6-pack of pansies to put in their own garden, as they spent a great deal of time watching my activities with grave interest (and many questions). I love encouraging children to grow things!

Has anyone else started a vegetable garden yet?

Sowing Seeds

On this beautiful spring day, I am planting seeds. As I sow, I wonder. what will come up? What will take to this soil? Will my plants be strong and bountiful? Or weak and straggly. Will I remember to water? Or water too much? At the end, will I have a bountiful harvest or a bitter one?

I ponder the many gardening parables: how does a child who has never sown understand the tale of the mustard seed? Or of how from a tiny seed something large and powerful can grow? Or again, what does one raised away from gardens really understand about vines? About pruning for the good of the vine? About rich or bitter harvests?

Having always been an avid gardener, from a family of avid gardeners, I know what a hard pruning can be. Cutting down almost to the root, in order to stimulate new, fresh growth. It can be a painful choice for the gardener - will the plant survive to flourish anew? Or will it simply die?

How natural then to take this process and apply it to spiritual matters! Is God with you only when you have earthly blessings? Or is He perhaps with you in a more special way when He is pruning you in preparation for new growth?

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." - John 15:1-2

Gratitude for Small Favors

This has been a difficult week, starting with a massive nor'easter and following with many dreary and unpleasant bits. So when I came across this small crocus today I was reminded of why I am blessed, why I made some hard choices, why there are still hard choices to be made. And that good does come around in the long run.

I planted a few bulbs in this spot in late September 2001, as gardening was one way I chose to deal with overwhelming grief.

I did not imagine then that this sweet flower would return year after year,

a small personal symbol of rebirth and renewal, 

a small personal symbol of the Promise of the Gospel.

Each spring, this small brave blossom breaks through the still-frozen ground, one of the first signs of life after the bleak winter. Each spring this humble bloom reminds me to stop, to remember, to pray.

And in doing so, I am blessed.

Thoughts on What Makes a Family

What makes a family?

It is not simply a matter of legal contract (marriage) plus off-spring...what of those who, for one reason or another, cannot biologically have children of their own? If they adopt, are they not creating family?

My own experience of family is one of reassortments and blessings. I have my son, and with the love of other family members we created our own family. I have loved ones who have adopted, and in doing so they brought home a child and created their family with every bit as much right and blessing as I created mine.

Family is not simply a matter of passing on genetic material. Family is love, is choices made and not made, is sacrifices made, is about realising more is passed on thru love than thru genes...

Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent, a season of reflection, abstinence and penitence. It is a recognition that each of us is a humble sinner, who requires the love and sacrifice of God to be redeemed. It is a season that prepares us for the celebration of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection on Easter morn.

We are dust...and to dust we shall return.

Here are a few links, for those wishing additional information about the observance of Lent:

Catholic.org has a very informative Lent section here.

Creighton University's Online Ministry has a wonderful "Praying Lent" page here.

Our Pope Benedict XVI has a Lenten Message, celebrating Divine Justice, here.

Beliefnet.com has a Lent Calendar and some interesting Lent links here. (NOTE - some of their website material may not be appropriate for children, I would always review their pages first)